I had been yearning to shoot a sunset/sunrise at a lighthouse for quite sometime. I have been to the Point Reyes lighthouse which is up north from where I live, but the place is crowded most of the time, and the time of day I visited there wasn't ideal for any good clicks.
So this time, I decided to specifically reach a lighthouse location for sunset so that I can get some colors in the sky and hopefully not a large crowd. After searching for "lighthouses" on Yelp, the Santa Cruz Harbor Walton Lighthouse seemed like a good place to explore.
It was the last day of Daylight Saving and the sun was set to set at 6:12 pm. After packing our camera equipment, my wife and I started our 45 mile journey towards our destination. The drive was fairly uneventful except for an accident on I880 south (in the opposite direction to our drive), where a vehicle was completely overturned by impact! 😮 The traffic going north had slowed down due to rubbernecking by most of the drivers. Hoping that the people involved in the accident were safe, while discussing as to how it could be possible for it to overturn on a one-way road, we continued onward.
After an hour's drive, we reached the place with sufficient time to explore the place before sunset. The base of the lighthouse wasn't accessible by car and we had to enquire around to find out how to access it by foot. After scouting around the place shooting some portraits, we headed towards the lighthouse which was a good 1 mile hike. The walk was along the Santa Cruz harbor and we started clicking interesting subjects we found on the way.
So this time, I decided to specifically reach a lighthouse location for sunset so that I can get some colors in the sky and hopefully not a large crowd. After searching for "lighthouses" on Yelp, the Santa Cruz Harbor Walton Lighthouse seemed like a good place to explore.
It was the last day of Daylight Saving and the sun was set to set at 6:12 pm. After packing our camera equipment, my wife and I started our 45 mile journey towards our destination. The drive was fairly uneventful except for an accident on I880 south (in the opposite direction to our drive), where a vehicle was completely overturned by impact! 😮 The traffic going north had slowed down due to rubbernecking by most of the drivers. Hoping that the people involved in the accident were safe, while discussing as to how it could be possible for it to overturn on a one-way road, we continued onward.
After an hour's drive, we reached the place with sufficient time to explore the place before sunset. The base of the lighthouse wasn't accessible by car and we had to enquire around to find out how to access it by foot. After scouting around the place shooting some portraits, we headed towards the lighthouse which was a good 1 mile hike. The walk was along the Santa Cruz harbor and we started clicking interesting subjects we found on the way.
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| Dandelion clicked by Anisha |
As we got closer to the base of the lighthouse, my wife, Anisha, brought to my attention a flock of birds perched on the rocks at the side of the pathway. I quickly attached my telephotos lens to the camera and got some shots.
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| Canon EOS 5D Mark III, ISO 160, 300mm, f/5.6, 1/125 sec |
As I was shooting getting low on the ground, an elderly gentleman patted my back and asked "What type of birds are those?" to which I smiled and replied "Frankly sir, I have no idea". He laughed and said "I thought you were an expert!" and walked away. I realized that an SLR with a long lens makes anyone look like an expert. 😀
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| Canon EOS 5D Mark III, ISO 160, 300mm, f/5.6, 1/160 sec |
The birds were fairly brave as they didn't fly away spotting my ominous lens and I managed to get some decent shots with the waves providing an interesting backdrop. A rule of composition I learnt recently was that having odd number of subjects in your shots makes the image more appealing. On a related note, I also read somewhere that most people like the volume level in their TVs set to an even number. 😃
After scouting for a few locations to get a good framing, I set down my tripod on one side of the pathway, over the rocks and started taking some test shots before the light would fade away. Anisha in the meanwhile, got some wonderful shots on her iphone 7.
After scouting for a few locations to get a good framing, I set down my tripod on one side of the pathway, over the rocks and started taking some test shots before the light would fade away. Anisha in the meanwhile, got some wonderful shots on her iphone 7.
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| Shot by Anisha on iPhone 7 |
One of the compositions I had in mind was a vertical frame with the line of rocks in the foreground leading your eye to the lighthouse. Using an ND 3.0 filter to smoothen the water and get some movement in the clouds, I managed to get a few shots that I wanted.
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| Shot by Anisha on iPhone 7 |
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| Canon EOS 60D, ISO 160, 29 mm, f/11, 25 sec |
As I was almost done taking these shots, Anisha suggested I come to the other side of the beach to get a different viewpoint of the lighthouse. The sun was inching down the horizon, as I scampered to the other side to see if I can get some good shots. The light was getting lesser by the minute, and the sky was changing its color. I setup my tripod and decided to take a few more long exposures. I did get distracted by a curious, beautiful doggo running on the beach who came up to me to see what good I was up to. His owner shouted at him to step back apologizing for his behavior. 😃
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| Canon EOS 60D, ISO 160, 31 mm, f/29, 3.2 sec |
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| Canon EOS 60D, ISO 160, 53 mm, f/11, 111 sec |
The rising moon also caught my eye as the sun was almost down the horizon and the foreground of the rocks made for an interesting composition.
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| Canon EOS 60D, ISO 160, 120 mm, f/5.6, 1/80 sec |
We headed back home after sunset, the drive back taking almost twice the time we took to reach the place, thanks to the ever increasing traffic in the bay area.
Until next time...
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